St. Joseph Hill senior Keelan Smith had 11 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter and overtimes.Kendall Rodriguez

Keelan Smith pump faked and started to drive to the basket. Then, remembering that her team was down three, the St. Joseph Hill senior guard stepped back and put up a 3-pointer.

“I didn’t think it was gonna go in,” she said.

The ball didn’t look good out of her hands, but, like everything else did down the stretch, it turned out well. The 3-pointer banked in, sending the game to double overtime and host St. Joseph Hill shutout Notre Dame Academy the rest of the way in a thrilling, 82-73 win Thursday night in CHSAA Staten Island girls basketball.

“It surprised me,” Smith said with a laugh.

None of what she did surprised coach Michael O’Connor. Smith had 11 of her 20 points in the two overtime periods and was 6-of-8 from the line in the extra sessions. In essence, she was everything a senior point guard should be down the stretch.

“She’s been around,” O’Connor said. “She’s clutch. She wanted the ball in her hands at the end of the game.”

Smith wouldn’t have gotten the chance for those overtime heroics if not for a wild end of regulation. Sam Laforgia’s 3-pointer put Notre Dame Academy (5-6, 1-2 SI) ahead, 61-58, with 35 seconds left. But a few Gators errors cost them and Hill (8-4, 3-2) capitalized. NDA rushed a quick shot and turned it over twice in the closing seconds.

On the other end, Smith knocked down a jumper to cut the deficit to two and, off a stolen inbounds pass, Kieran Meagher found freshman prodigy Kelsey Carey for a transition layup to tie the score at 61 with one second left.

“I’ve been on the other side of that as a coach,” O’Connor said. “It can give you gray hairs.”

NDA took a lead again in the first overtime, led by Breanne Gasser, who had all 16 of her points in the fourth quarter and extra periods. The Gators were up by as much as 69-65 after a pair of Laforgia free throws with 2:21 left. But Chelsea Mester’s basket got the Hilltoppers within one and Smith drained that step back 3 on their next possession to force another overtime.

And Hill, which has won seven of its last eight games, did plenty of growing up Thursday night.

“This was the biggest game of the year for us, I think,” Carey said.

Carey, as poised and strong of a ninth grade post there is in New York City, had 23 points, Smith had 20 points and Mester added 18. Laforgia scored 15 points, Ashley Iannacone had 13 points and Amanda Ippolito chipped in nine for NDA.

“For us, it’s a really big win,” O’Connor said. “The Hill program has had its ups and downs. Beating them today is going to give us a lot of confidence going into the second half of the league season. I don’t remember the last time we’ve been 3-2 going into the second half of the league season. … We feel like we can play with anybody.”

The victory puts the Hilltoppers at third in the Island standings behind St. Peter’s and Moore Catholic. But that was the second most important 3 that came out of Thursday’s game – with Smith’s trey being the first.

“I guess it’s kind of instinct,” she said. “You just gotta step up and take it.”